When I put out the call for help with 1UP’s Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City review, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The idea seemed simple enough in theory: 1UP would give this multiplayer-heavy game a fair shake by inviting fans and members of our community to play along and help shape the site’s review. Review together or die alone, and stuff like that.I was happy to see our community participate and share their opinions and unique perspectives with us. While a few entries didn’t make the final cut, I appreciate the effort and contributions made by all. Honorable mention goes out to 1UP user dayeight, someone who chose not to participate in our multiplayer sessions but offered this surprisingly succinct take on ORC: “Moving parts create a puppet menagerie of pain, online is fun-ish but isn’t it always.” Nicely put, dayeight. And with that, let’s kick off our first community review and see what our panel had to say about ORC’s strengths and weaknesses.

Click the image above to check out all Resident Evil ORC screens.

Oscar Reynoso, 1UP Member: I think ORC sticks to the story pretty well, and all of the characters seem really balanced. The assortment of weapons isn’t that bad, and it’s pretty cool to experience a story from Umbrella’s perspective during the G-Virus outbreak of Resident Evil 2 and 3.Jose Ybarra, 1UP Members: ORC is a decent game if you already like this series, but annoying glitches get in the way — like trying to pick up items as an on-screen prompt disappears, for example.

Navin Mistry, 1UP Member: I was a little bothered by how ORC begins like a cover-based Spec Ops versus Spec Ops third-person shooter interspersed with RE references, but I let out a sigh of relief once zombies and other bio-terrors started to make their appearances.

Brandon Stennis, 1UP Member: After playing hours of ORC, I still don’t know how I feel about it. The game is a different perspective on Resident Evil 2 and 3, and while that concept has managed to keep me interested, certain creative liberties have been taken with the material since this game was created by a different company outside of Capcom.

Jose Otero, 1UP Associate Editor: I agree that Raccoon City isn’t a terrible game, just a flawed one whose sloppy execution undermines the overall product. The act of shooting anything feels too unpredictable, as constant gun recoil rocks my weapons far off their intended targets. The sniper rifle is practically unusable due to the inhuman level of precision required to make it work. I’d give anything at this point to see a patch clear up some of these aim-related issues, but as of this writing ORC fumbles its core mechanic: Tactical third-person shooting. Its not the worst TPS ever made, but Slant Six’s efforts appear average at best and don’t really get any better.

Oscar: I thought the levels were really dark, so I kicked up the gamma and still had trouble seeing things. I also found the cover system — a technique that’s initiated by holding the analog stick forward to slide into a wall or piece of cover — a bit irritating since it would trigger itself when I didn’t need it. I’d be checking for doors to open so I could find helpful items and my character would attach themselves to the wall for cover.

Weird things happen in ORC, too. I played part of the campaign solo and the A.I.-controlled players would run into fire instead trying to find ways around it. I’d lose my teammates often and watch them die without using their special abilities. This really made playing alone difficult since I found myself having to rescue them all the time. Once I started playing with buddies, the game got a lot better.

Navin: The campaign is fairly short but it seems designed to be played through more than once. The teammate AI isn’t great, but the game is vastly improved when playing with human players, which is great if they’re available and unfortunate for fans of traditional single-player.

Jose O.: I agree. Luckily, single- and multiplayer progress come together through the player progression system, and that’s a smart move on Slant Six’s part. It rewards players with experience that can be used to buy weapons, abilities, and customize how each character plays. Some of the special abilities work better in a competitive multiplayer environment, but the amount of options they lend ORC is enough to keep you hooked.